This coming of age story is set amid what the author calls the ‘traumatic and surreal’ experience of the July War in Beirut. Against the backdrop of war and its fallout, a young teenager faces smaller but no less intimidating personal conflicts, including his emerging sexuality, his relationship with his father, the aggressive attentions of a bully and a reluctant friendship with a refugee. Small and large scale devastations converge to contrast the unfairness, injustice and confusion of two very different battlefields.

A 10-year-old girl sees a psychologist in the aftermath of her father’s drowning, amid concerns about her behaviour and refusal to confront her grief. This is a heart-breaking story about trauma, bereavement and failing relationships, and an exploration of a child’s desperate attempt to achieve agency in her life.

A children’s entertainer scrapes a living attending birthday parties dressed as various Disney Princesses. She arrives at her final booking of the day hungover, late and dishevelled – only to discover that there are no small children present; rather, she is the ‘surprise’ for a 40 year old man.

As she assimilates to the weirdness of the party, her thoughts continually return to her own child, who she has a rare chance to spend time with the next day. Much like the heroines of the original, dark fairytales, this story sees its princess teeter perilously close to the brink, as subtle yet sinister details seep into the seemingly light premise.